Spain's TNT Radio Rock recently conducted an interview with members of Triptykon - the occult/avantgarde metal outfit formed by ex-Celtic Frost mainman Thomas Gabriel Fischer (a.k.a. Tom G. Warrior) at this year's edition of the Leyendas Del Rock festival, which was held past summer at Polideportivo Municipal de Villena in Villena, Spain. You can watch the entire chat in the video below.

Being asked about the recent BMG/Noise reissues of Celtic Frost's seminal catalog, a campaign Fischer ultimately withdrew his endorsement from because of disagreements on the content on his liner notes, Fischer states:

"I had some disagreements with BMG Records who own the rights to these albums these days, but it's of minor importance. It was a disagreement of what should be in the booklet and what should not. It's nothing new in the recording industry that the record company doesn't have the same opinion as the recording artist. But as far as the sound is concerned, I'm very proud of what we've done, most of the credit has to go to Victor Santura. I'm very proud of the achievement."

"I have no respect for record companies. I started in the 1980s worshipping - I wanted a record deal - I worshiped record companies. They represented, to me, the key to becoming a musician, which was my dream. But after thirty-five years of learning about myself, I've seen the realities of the music industry. We are fortunate enough to work with our own record company, so we have all the freedom in the world. Because we have our own record company, we can work at a very high level and professional. I don't like to work with companies who work on a lower level of professionalism. So I sometimes lose my patience when somebody doesn't work at the level we are used to. I didn't spend thirty-five years in the industry to deliver mediocre. If I wanted to release something, whether it's an old Celtic Frost album or a new Triptykon, I would like it to reflect myself or the artist on one hand. On the other hand, it should reflect the highest level of quality possible. If somebody fails to do that, yes, I'm unhappy. I think that's a very natural instinct. My name is on the record. If a record company fucks up, my name is still on there."

Triptykon made the following statement announcing upcoming festival appearances and the search for a new drummer:

"We feel very honored to have been invited to play Spain's Leyendas del Rock and Germany's Party.San festivals this August. Both festivals hold a unique significance for Triptykon: our concert at Leyendas del Rock will mark the first time Triptykon will play in Spain, fulfilling a desire we have had for quite some time.

"The return to Party.San is equally important for us. Triptykon's first appearance at the festival, in August of 2011, was heavily marred by the unexpected shutdown of the main stage due to storm damage, and by a number of local organizational issues. Party.San is a truly extraordinary festival in our eyes, and we feel privileged and delighted to be given the opportunity to finally honour it with a proper concert.

"But these two festivals are significant to us for yet another, far more personal reason. These will be the final concerts we will play with our drummer, Norman Lonhard. Norman joined Triptykon in December of 2008, thereby completing the freshly formed band. He recorded two acclaimed albums, an EP, and a single with the group, appeared in all of Triptykon's video clips, and performed uncounted concerts around the globe with us. More...

This weekend, you can stream portions of the 2016 edition of Wacken Open Air live via Arte.tv. Some of the top bands offered for streaming: Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian, Saxon, Testament, Eluveitie and Ministry (among others).

The publishing wing of Svart Records that kicked off this month with the Isten Fanzine compilation continues in April with "Magic As A Golden Mean," which is a selection of mixed-media artworks by Romanian artist Costin Chioreanu.

The hardcover book will be launched at Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Holland in April 2015.

Costin has been creating album artwork for over a decade. He started out illustrating his band’s demos, but would soon be influenced by circumstances in post-Communist Romania, too.

In the mid-1990s, metal fans in Bucharest were lucky to find bootleg cassettes with badly photocopied covers. Undeterred, Costin simply made his own using Heavy Metal Magazine, the country’s sole heavy music publication, as a reference.

Today, he has emerged as one of the most talented artists in the realm of avant-metal and dark psychedelica, producing work for the likes of Darkthrone, Ulver, At The Gates, Triptykon, and Opeth. Whether the images he conjures are disturbing, provocative, or enchanting, they consistently show great finesse, sensitivity and depth. More...

On the eve of returning to the stage in the band's native Switzerland after an absence of more than two years, and two weeks before embarking on a tour of Europe with At The Gates, Swiss avant-garde extreme metal act Triptykon is debuting a new visualization for a track off the “Melana Chasmata” album (reviewed here).

See the video for the album’s opening track, “Tree Of Suffocating Souls," in the YouTube player below. The video was directed by Philipp Hirsch (who previously worked with Triptykon for the "Shatter" and “Aurorae” video clips).

Triptykon singer/guitarist Tom Gabriel Warrior comments: "In producing this footage, we have elected to once again work in partnership with long-standing Triptykon collaborator and director, Philipp Hirsch, in Leipzig, Germany. As intensely minimalist as Triptykon's approach and music are, as perfect and passionate was Philipp in creating images which combine such minimalism with the required darkness. The night during which most of these images were created was, for many reasons, a truly extraordinary night none of us shall ever forget." More...

The Eindhoven Metal Meeting is very proud to announce that with the addition of In Solitude, Valkyrja, Thanatos, Skyforger, Dust Bolt, The Committee, and Miasmal, the line-up for this year's edition - set to take place December 12 & 13th, 2014 at the Effenaar venue in Eindhoven, The Netherlands - is now complete.

The Dutch all-female death metal band Sisters Of Suffocation will also perform on Friday, December 12th at the official after party at the Dynamo Club together with the cover-bands Mercyfull Fake and Forever Twisted. Entrance is free with an Eindhoven Metal Meeting ticket!

The full festival billing is as follows (in alphabetical order): More...

Triptykon premiered the new music video for the track "Aurorae" over at Metal Hammer's website at this location (also in the player below). The song appears on the latest album "Melana Chasmata," which was issued back in April via Century Media Records (see review here).

The clip is an ominous visualisation of "Aurorae," one of the most poignant and personal songs on "Melana Chasmata." It was directed by Philipp Hirsch (who previously collaborated with Triptykon for the group's highly acclaimed "Shatter" video clip), and filmed in Leipzig, Germany, earlier this year. As it was the case with "Shatter", the "Aurorae" clip is based on concepts by Hirsch and Triptykon singer/guitarist Tom Gabriel Warrior.

The "Aurorae" clip is to be followed later in 2014 by an EP of the same title, featuring additional unreleased music by the group and released through Century Media Records/Prowling Death Records. Moreover, the end of the year will see Triptykon embark on a major European tour with At The Gates.

The Eindhoven Metal Meeting is very happy to welcome Asphyx, Carach Angren, Cripper, and Funeral Whore to lineup for this year's edition, set to take place December 12 & 13th, 2014 at the Effenaar venue in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The festival billing is shaping up as follows (in alphabetical order):

The final bands have now been announced for this year's edition of the Bloodstock Festival, which takes place from August 7th - 10th (get ticket info and other details over here). The organizers of the festival comment:

"The ‘Metal 2 The Masses’ finals have rocked to a conclusion and some more lucky young bands are joining the New Blood stage at Catton Park next month, plus there's a few last additions for the Sophie and Jagermeister stages.

"Balls Deep bring their trad groove metal to the Sophie Lancaster stage. The Brit outfit have been busy honing their ‘Pro-Pain cut with Black Sabbath’ sound, coming on like the bastard sons of Pantera and classic heavy metal.

"Over on the Jagermeister stage, female-fronted power metallers Aceldama will be impressing allcomers with their high octane performance and audience interaction, while New Blood stage stoner rocker’s Resin will be offering an additional acoustic spin on their new material.

"Meanwhile, the New Blood stage welcomes the last clutch of winners from the last batch of M2TM roadshow finals. Goat Leaf bring their doom groove from the Sheffield heats, Oakhaart’s tech death noise hails from Gloucestershire, impressing judges at the Bristol event, Sinpathetic grace us with their death metal from the Preston night, Eradikator’s thrash metal won out in Birmingham, and lastly but not least, Cacodaemonic's unholy, neo-classical infused death metal represents Nottingham."

Dates that each band performs and running times will not be set until closer to the festival dates.

The organizers are satisfied with the venue situation this year and have decided to use the same set up next year. This means that Maryland Deathfest 2015 will use the Edison Lot (located at 545 N. High St) for the two main stages, Rams Head (located at 20 Market Place) will be used each night and will host death/black metal bands, and Soundstage (located at 124 Market Pl) will be used each day/night for grind/hardcore/punk bands. On Thursday, only Rams Head will be used.

As was the case in 2013, the 2014 installment of the Graspop Metal Meeting in Dessel, Belgium will have a live feed over this weekend (June 27th-June 29th). The feed can be accessed over at this location.

Not all bands are participating in the live feed, and the feed is subject to change at any time, with full live shows and partial live feeds throughout. Bands that will not be broadcast are: Ghost, Annihilator, Limp Bizkit and Black Sabbath. Make sure you check the schedule regularly at the bottom of the feed page for the status of the live stream (green check is full live stream, question mark is "unknown," green/red circle with slash is partial streaming and the red "x" is no stream).

As of press time, the bands scheduled for live streaming are as follows:

The work of JRR Tolkien has long been a favorite muse of rock and metal artists. This year's Bloodstock bands Megadeth, Amon Amarth, and Dimmu Borgir all have used Tolkien references in their work, along with many others (Nightwish, Gorgoroth and even the likes of Led Zeppelin to name but a few).

Now Bloodstock’s co-founder, fantasy artist Paul Raymond Gregory, is thrilled to bring the two themes together and launch a major art exhibition at Bloodstock this year.

Christened the Rock and Metal (RAM) Gallery, the exhibition is to be a permanent addition to the festival and will provide a showcase for a changing selection of rock-related art and memorabilia. Paul Raymond Gregory’s extensive body of work includes many famous album sleeves and monolithic pieces inspired by the writings of JRR Tolkien. Paul’s first ever album cover commission was in 1984 for Saxon’s "Crusader," so launching the RAM Gallery on the 30th anniversary of Paul’s artistic debut in the metal world is fitting indeed.

This year’s first showing will include all the original Bloodstock festival artwork, going right back to the first indoor event in 2001, plus a wide range of Paul’s album art including the sleeve of Saxon’s latest release "Sacrifice." Representing Paul’s Tolkien work, there will also be a large triptych inspired by The Silmarillion opus (from whence Marillion derived its name). The painting will be mounted in a bespoke hand-carved frame created by framer John Davis. Although John has framed much of Paul’s other work, the triptych features the first frame actually designed by Paul himself. In addition, Paul will be signing copies of his book "Beyond Time And Place," which showcases artwork from the breadth of his career.

The exhibition will also include a small selection of bespoke handmade guitars created by young artist/musician Cynosure who is working to re-define the guitar, not just as a functional instrument, but as a working, playable piece of art.

The current Bloodstock Festival 2014 lineup is shaping up as follows: More...

The Eindhoven Metal Meeting is very happy to welcome U.S. death metal band Morbid Angel again at this year's edition, set to take place December 12th & 13th, 2014 at the reputable Effenaar venue in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

The band will play the "Covenant' album in its entirety, followed by a shorter best-of set list. Also exclusively confirmed are Swiss atmospheric black metallers Bolzer! A few more bands will be announced soon. The festival billing is shaping up as follows (in alphabetical order):

Unleashed, One Tail One Head, Sinister, The Vision Bleak, Cruachan, Saille, and Evil Invaders are the latest bands to have been confirmed for this year's Eindhoven Metal Meeting festival.

The festival is set to take place December 12 & 13th, 2014 at the reputable Effenaar venue in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. More bands will be announced soon. The festival billing is shaping up as follows (in alphabetical order):